Yara: electrolysis plant opened in Herøya, Norway

Yara has unveiled its 24 MW renewable hydrogen production plant at Herøya Industrial Park in Norway. The hydrogen produced at the plant will be used for renewable ammonia production, which will in turn be used for fertiliser manufacture.

The project was inaugurated by the Norwegian Prime Minister, and will be the “largest of its kind” currently operational in Europe. The fertiliser produced downstream of the project will form part of the company’s new low-carbon portfolio called the Yara Climate Choice.

The project, which produced its first hydrogen in September last year, was formalised in January 2022 after Enova funding from the Norwegian government enabled Yara to take FID. It was also announced at the time that Yara had selected Linde Engineering as EPC partner, and that UK-based ITM Power would supply its PEM electrolysers for the plant.

In addition to electrolysis-based production, Yara also plans to include CCS-based hydrogen and ammonia to its portfolio. In 2023, the company signed a firm agreement with Northern Lights for CO₂ transport and storage. The partnership will see CCS incorporated into Yara’s ammonia production site in Sluiskil, Netherlands, reducing the plant’s CO₂ emissions by about 800,000 tons. Further, Yara is assessing other CCS-based ammonia production sites in the US.

This is a ground-breaking project and a testament to our mission to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. I want to thank our dedicated employees who have worked tirelessly to get this cutting-edge production up and running, Enova for supporting the project, our partners and our brave customers who are first movers towards a more sustainable future. We are very pleased to have delivered the first tonnes of low-carbon footprint fertilisers to Lantmännen, a partnership which serves as a concrete example of how collaboration across the entire food value chain is required to decarbonize. Together, we have made this important step towards decarbonizing hard to abate sectors.

The green transition will require investments, predictable framework conditions, massive build-out of renewable energy and grid, continuously advancing technology, and a maturing market where demand and supply are developed simultaneously. The companies who take this seriously will have a competitive advantage. At Yara, we have already reduced our emissions by 45 percent since 2005, and with our strategy to profitably deliver decarbonized solutions quickly and at scale, produced with both renewable energy and CCS, we are uniquely positioned to deliver, both to shareholders, customers, employees and society at large.

Svein Tore Holsether, Yara President and CEO, in his organisation’s official press release, 10 June 2024

Renewable ammonia is an important part of the decarbonization puzzle, however developing it at scale takes time. As the world is rapidly approaching 2030, we are also working to produce low-carbon ammonia with CCS to enable the hydrogen economy and develop the emerging markets for low-emission ammonia.

Hans Olav Raen, Yara Clean Ammonia CEO, in his organisation’s official press release, 10 June 2024